Even in death, the King is still making movies. Several stories based on Elvis Presley are in development around Hollywood but one just emerged from the pack. It’s called Last Train to Memphis, based on a book by Peter Guralnick, and follows Presley from his teenage years up through his blossoming into a rock and roll legend. Fox 2000 has been developing the project for years and finally, they’ve hired a director. It’s Kevin MacDonald, who also directed The Last King of Scotland, Touching the Void and State of Play. He’s joined by Rolling Stones front man Mick Jagger, who’ll produce and John Fusco (Young Guns) who adapted the book. Read More »

A dozen years after the release of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Weinstein Co. is getting ready to make a sequel. Though it’s been a while since we heard about any potential follow-up to Ang Lee‘s international hit, it looks like the Weinsteins have quietly been making preparations behind the scenes. Production is on track to begin in May, with a script by John Fusco (The Forbidden Kingdom). Ronny Yu (Fearless) is in talks to direct. More details after the jump.

Platinum Dunes producer Brad Fuller has reappeared on Twitter over the weekend to offer a couple updates on future sequels of A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot. Find out what he said, after the jump.Read More »

When the utterly atrocious Alice in Wonderland made over one hundred million dollars domestic this weekend, what is the next logical story to fatten like a calf and then trot out in three glorious dimensions? The Bible, of course. One of the co-founders of Walden Media is working with Paramount to create In the Beginning, a new 3D telling of the Book of Genesis. Can someone point the way out of this garden? Read More »

Update [by Editor Peter Sciretta]:Variety has confirmed this earlier report. Fusco issued the following statement: “It is always exciting when you can come aboard a project that bridges the worlds of what you do with what you love.” No other new information has been revealed.

A TMNT fan blog noticed the other day that the official TMNT site had released details of the Turtles’ panel at Comic Con, and the page (since deleted) had some new info. Among the guests listed for the panel was John Fusco, noted in the listing as the writer for the live-action movie due in 2011. That’s an interesting choice for the project, and suggests that the aim is to create more than a simple cash-in that preys on fan nostalgia.

Fusco wrote the two Young Guns movies, Hidalgo with Viggo Mortensen, the recent Jet Li picture The Forbidden Kingdom and may be writing the latest attempt to remake Seven Samurai. None of them cinema classics by any means (not talking about the Kurosawa Seven Samurai, obviously) but it’s a resume that has a strong western/martial arts bent. And what is TMNT (also no cinema classic) really but a cheeky urban version of Western and wuxia tropes? Read More »